Students will have the opportunity to converse with three local speakers on Nov. 16 at the Venderbrush Leadership Connection.

The speakers will visit Grand Valley State University’s Kirkhof Center to discuss the important of ethical leadership to GVSU students.

Josh Lee, graduate assistant for student organization development, said the speakers at the event were purposely selected from three different backgrounds.

Ken Estelle, CEO of Feeding America West Michigan, will be there for students who want to interact with a leader from a nonprofit organization. For students who are interested in a corporation that works for profit, Joel Peterson, vice president of marketing for New Holland Brewing, will also attend the Venderbrush Leadership Connection.

Senita Lenear, commissioner of the Third Ward of the city of Grand Rapids, is the third speaker at the event. She will represent an elected leader.

Lee said many people think there is a lack of ethical leadership in society. This event is meant to connect students with leaders who are trying to adhere to ethical standards.

“We wanted to find people in the community who believe in really ethical, effective and efficient leadership,” Lee said.

Many events that students attend help them develop leadership skills that they need, Lee said. However, those events often lack a foresight. He said students need to be able to understand what leadership looks like once they leave the university.

“How do you transfer those skills that you learned in your organizations, in your classes doing group work, all these things that you do in college—how do transfer those skills over to the work force?” Lee said.

Beside the opportunity to network with the three guest speakers, Lee hopes that students can ask them questions. He believes students should use the speakers as a resource that will help them understand how to best present oneself.

The event is switching to a roundtable discussion model this year. Previously, the speakers would give a short lecture. Lee believes the interaction with the speakers will be more beneficial to students than listening to a lecture.

“Students come to college, and we learn and we develop as people, but at the end of the day, once you leave, you want to use that degree and those experiences to launch your career path in a positive way,” Lee said.

The change from lecture to roundtable was done intentionally based on student feedback. Students know the kind of information they want to get from the speakers, so it is most beneficial if they can ask the speakers directly.

It was important to have diverse speakers in the roundtable discussion setting, Lee said. This way, students can see that leadership principles can apply to any kind of discipline. He also said it was important to show students that ethics do not go away as one moves up the leadership hierarchy.

“There’s this kind of this preconception that once you get to a certain point in terms of power, that power can have a negative effect, it can change you as a person,” Lee said. “We want to show that’s not the case.”